The Boy behind the Mask
by dolphins-scarecrow
Summary: Very short one-shot. Itachi-centric. Itachi is a 12-year-old who hides behind a mask. Only Sasuke has ever seen his true self. Non-Yaoi, rated T for mentions of violence.


**Disclaimer: Me own Naruto? As if... All the praise goes to Kishimoto-san.**

...

Most people in Konoha found Uchiha Itachi to be a very scary and intimidating personality.

This view of the Uchiha-prodigy was due to a combination of facts, rumors and character traits, which were the main reason for the general consensus to stay as far as possible away from Itachi.

The fact that he was, indeed, a genius, whose Sharingan had first appeared at the tender age of eight and who had managed to aquire the title of jounin at eleven, paired with rumors of him being a member of the anbu could have led to fear, envy, respect and even admiration, but Itachi's behavior made them settle for fear pretty fast.

Itachi was, in one word, cold.

His appearance was always immaculate, his eyes distant and nobody had ever seen a smile or an equally pleasant expression cross his handsome features.

It wasn't as if he was unpleasant, though.

There were no laughs, but there weren't any sneers, distasteful looks or snide remarks, either.

No, Itachi went about everything he did with absolute and never wavering politeness, another reason he was feared.

In the eyes of his fellow citizens of Konoha, even seasoned shinobi and anbu-members, there was something extremely disturbing about watching a twelve-year-old apologizing to a young woman for the inconveniences before slitting her husband's throat, then proceeding in cutting the whole head off, placing it in a duffel bag and leaving through the front door, but not before bowing politely and apologizing again to the crying female.

Yes, Itachi was feared, feared for his cold, impenetrable mask.

But that was all it was, a mask. A mask to keep his emotions locked away, to keep Itachi from breaking.

He was, after all, just twelve.

A twelve year old anbu-member with the Sharingan and jounin-status.

A twelve year old who had seen war, death and torture, but had yet to fall in love for the first time.

A mask.

But the whole of Konoha never realised there was a mask in place and neither did they ever come to know the boy behind that mask.

In fact, there was probably just one person in Konoha who had ever seen Itachi without his mask firmly in place; his baby brother, Sasuke.

Sasuke was the person Itachi went to when the pain became too much, when he started questioning the reason behind all those deaths, or even the reason to stay alive.

Sasuke was his reassurance of the necessity of what he was doing. He was doing it so his little brother was protected, so Sasuke would have a better live than Itachi had.

And standing beside his brothers bed, still in his anbu armour after just having come back home, watching his little otouto's innocent face, it was enough for him.

"Aniki.", Sasuke murmured, bleary eyes slightly unfocused as he stared up at Itachi who quickly leaned down to him. "I am sorry, otouto. Did I wake you?"

He got an unintelligible mumble as a reply, followed by a huge yawn. Then, Sasuke scooted to the side and lifted the covers a bit. Itachi followed the silent invitation and climbed into bed with his brother. This not being the first time they did this they quickly found a comfortable position to lie in and not much later Sasuke was back in Dreamland.

Itachi lay awake for some time still, watching his little brother sleep.

There was something undeniably peaceful about the way Sasuke slept, dark locks brushing his cheeks and mouth slightly open. Like he didn't have a care in the world. And Itachi was going to make damn well sure it stayed that way for as long as possible.

As Sasuke snuggled into his Aniki's chest a little tighter, fisting his small hands in Itachis shirt, something happened that hadn't occurred in a long time.

Itachi smiled.

And in that one moment in time, with his brother cuddled up against him and the weight on his shoulders forgotten, he was utterly and completely contented.

In the morning he would have to wear his mask again, but tonight…

Tonight he could smile.

...

**A/N: Reviews pretty please with cream and sugar?**


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